The Entrepreneurship Clinic is the successor to the Organizations & Transactions Clinic, which was Stanford's first corporate experiential course involving representation of real clients. Under the leadership of a new professor, the clinic will continue to be a corporate experiential course, with a shift in focus toward representing low-income entrepreneurs. The clinic is designed for students interested in pursuing corporate law careers, such as in general corporate practice; emerging companies and venture capital; mergers and acquisitions; capital markets; technology transactions; executive compensation and employee benefits; or other corporate work. The clinic is also designed for those wanting to explore a non-litigation, advisory-oriented practice. Prior experience in business or corporate law is welcome but not necessary. Students represent multiple clients during the term. Our clients include low-income entrepreneurs, social impact enterprises, and non-profit organizations. Students also provide educational legal workshops for entrepreneurs with limited resources. Client engagements provide students with opportunities to assess facts; conduct legal research; develop advice; read and draft contracts, legal memoranda, corporate governance materials, emails, and other client communications; lead meetings and calls with clients; collaborate with colleagues; and manage projects. Our practice is document-intensive and service-oriented; we focus on clear communication and crisp execution. In addition to learning fundamental skills of transactional lawyers, students develop their judgment and business acumen, and learn to add value to clients and their transactions by problem-solving. Students also see the many ways corporate lawyers can carry out pro bono work and how business ownership can promote economic empowerment and social justice. The course includes a class that meets twice a week. Topics include transactional lawyering skills such as client interviewing, legal research, contract drafting, client counseling, design thinking, cross-cultural competency, and professional responsibility, as well as substantive legal topics such as entity formation, corporate governance, corporate finance, employment law, and intellectual property. Guest speakers will join us to provide valuable insight. In addition, students will share issues in their client matters and get advice from classmates during case rounds. Special Instructions: General Structure of Clinical Courses - - The Law School's clinical courses are offered on a full-time basis for LAW 12 units. This allows students to immerse themselves in the professional experience without the need to balance clinical projects with other classes, exams and papers. Students enrolled in a clinic are not permitted to enroll in any other classes, seminars, directed research or other credit-yielding activities within the Law School or University during the quarter in which they are enrolled in a clinic. Nor are they allowed to serve as teaching assistants who are expected to attend a class on a regular basis. There is a limited exception for joint degree students who are required to take specific courses each quarter and who would be foreclosed from ever taking a clinic unless allowed to co-register. These exceptions are approved on a case-by-case basis. Clinic students are expected to work in their clinical office during most business hours Monday through Friday. Students are also expected to be available by e-mail or cell phone when elsewhere during those hours. Because students have no other courses (and hence no exams or papers), the clinical quarter begins the first day of classes and runs through the final day of the examination period. Students should not plan personal travel during the Monday to Friday work week without prior authorization from the clinical supervisor. The work during a typical week in a clinic is divided into three components. First, as they are for practicing attorneys, most of the hours of any week are taken up by work on client matters or case work (this time includes meetings with instructors to discuss the work). Again, as is the case for practicing lawyers, in some weeks these responsibilities demand time above and beyond "normal business hours." Second, students will spend approximately five-to-seven hours per week preparing for and participating in weekly discussions or other group work in their individual clinic (scheduling varies by clinic). Third, over the course of the quarter each clinic student (with the exception of those enrolled in the Criminal Prosecution Clinic) is required to prepare for and attend a few inter-clinic group sessions. Students will be awarded three separate grades for their clinical quarter, each reflecting four units. The three grades are broken into the following categories: clinical practice; clinical methods; and clinical coursework. Grading is pursuant to the H/P system. Enrollment in a clinic is binding; once selected into a clinic to which he or she has applied, a student may not later drop the course except in limited and exceptional cases. Requests for withdrawal are processed through the formal petition and clinical faculty review process described in the clinic policy document posted on the SLS website. Students may not enroll in any clinic (full-time or advanced) which would result in them earning more than LAW 27 clinical units during their law school career. The rules described here do not apply to advanced clinics for students who are continuing with a clinic in which they were previously enrolled. For information about advanced clinics, please see the course descriptions for those courses. For more information about clinic enrollment and operations, please see the clinic policy document posted on the SLS website.
4 units · Law Honors/Pass/Restrd Cr/Fail
The Entrepreneurship Clinic is the successor to the Organizations & Transactions Clinic, which was Stanford's first corporate experiential course involving representation of real clients. Under the leadership of a new professor, the clinic will continue to be a corporate experiential course, with a shift in focus toward representing low-income entrepreneurs. The clinic is designed for students interested in pursuing corporate law careers, such as in general corporate practice; emerging companies and venture capital; mergers and acquisitions; capital markets; technology transactions; executive compensation and employee benefits; or other corporate work. The clinic is also designed for those wanting to explore a non-litigation, advisory-oriented practice. Prior experience in business or corporate law is welcome but not necessary. Students represent multiple clients during the term. Our clients include low-income entrepreneurs, social impact enterprises, and non-profit organizations. Students also provide educational legal workshops for entrepreneurs with limited resources. Client engagements provide students with opportunities to assess facts; conduct legal research; develop advice; read and draft contracts, legal memoranda, corporate governance materials, emails, and other client communications; lead meetings and calls with clients; collaborate with colleagues; and manage projects. Our practice is document-intensive and service-oriented; we focus on clear communication and crisp execution. In addition to learning fundamental skills of transactional lawyers, students develop their judgment and business acumen, and learn to add value to clients and their transactions by problem-solving. Students also see the many ways corporate lawyers can carry out pro bono work and how business ownership can promote economic empowerment and social justice. The course includes a class that meets twice a week. Topics include transactional lawyering skills such as client interviewing, legal research, contract drafting, client counseling, design thinking, cross-cultural competency, and professional responsibility, as well as substantive legal topics such as entity formation, corporate governance, corporate finance, employment law, and intellectual property. Guest speakers will join us to provide valuable insight. In addition, students will share issues in their client matters and get advice from classmates during case rounds. Special Instructions: General Structure of Clinical Courses - - The Law School's clinical courses are offered on a full-time basis for 12 units. This allows students to immerse themselves in the professional experience without the need to balance clinical projects with other classes, exams and papers. Students enrolled in a clinic are not permitted to enroll in any other classes, seminars, directed research or other credit-yielding activities within the Law School or University during the quarter in which they are enrolled in a clinic. Nor are they allowed to serve as teaching assistants who are expected to attend a class on a regular basis. There is a limited exception for joint degree students who are required to take specific courses each quarter and who would be foreclosed from ever taking a clinic unless allowed to co-register. These exceptions are approved on a case-by-case basis. Clinic students are expected to work in their clinical office during most business hours Monday through Friday. Students are also expected to be available by e-mail or cell phone when elsewhere during those hours. Because students have no other courses (and hence no exams or papers), the clinical quarter begins the first day of classes and runs through the final day of the examination period. Students should not plan personal travel during the Monday to Friday work week without prior authorization from the clinical supervisor. The work during a typical week in a clinic is divided into three components. First, as they are for practicing attorneys, most of the hours of any week are taken up by work on client matters or case work (this time includes meetings with instructors to discuss the work). Again, as is the case for practicing lawyers, in some weeks these responsibilities demand time above and beyond "normal business hours." Second, students will spend approximately five-to-seven hours per week preparing for and participating in weekly discussions or other group work in their individual clinic (scheduling varies by clinic). Third, over the course of the quarter each clinic student (with the exception of those enrolled in the Criminal Prosecution Clinic) is required to prepare for and attend a few inter-clinic group sessions. Students will be awarded three separate grades for their clinical quarter, each reflecting four units. The three grades are broken into the following categories: clinical practice; clinical methods; and clinical coursework. Grading is pursuant to the H/P system. Enrollment in a clinic is binding; once selected into a clinic to which he or she has applied, a student may not later drop the course except in limited and exceptional cases. Requests for withdrawal are processed through the formal petition and clinical faculty review process described in the clinic policy document posted on the SLS website. Students may not enroll in any clinic (full-time or advanced) which would result in them earning more than 27 clinical units during their law school career. The rules described here do not apply to advanced clinics for students who are continuing with a clinic in which they were previously enrolled. For information about advanced clinics, please see the course descriptions for those courses. For more information about clinic enrollment and operations, please see the clinic policy document posted on the SLS website.
Offered in Autumn 2025, Spring 2026 at Stanford University.